The present invention relates exclusively to the domain of mail processing, and more particularly to an interface module for the transfer of mailpieces between a folding/inserting machine and a franking machine.
Numerous transport or conveyor devices are known in almost all domains of industrial activity. In the specific domain of mail processing, Applicants have already proposed in their French Application No. 99 13981 an adapter module between the exit of a digital printer and the entry of a folding/inserting machine.
On the other hand, no equivalent module exists at the present time between the exit of a folding/inserting machine and the entry of a franking machine. In effect, the documents (closed envelopes) leaving the folding/inserting machine are generally collected in a basket from which they are removed by hand to be transported to a feed station of the franking machine for franking thereof.
This absence of automatization results from the fact that present-day technology in folding/inserting machines imposes that the envelopes exit along their width while that in franking machines involves transport of these envelopes along their length.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome these drawbacks by providing a transfer module intended to ensure automatic transport of mailpieces between a folding/inserting machine and a franking machine. Another object of the invention is to propose a module of simple structure which nonetheless allows it to be adapted to different entry levels of franking machines.
These objects are attained by a transfer module for transporting mailpieces between an exit of a folding/inserting machine delivering a mailpiece at a first upper level in a transverse direction and an entry of a franking machine receiving this mailpiece at a second upper level in a longitudinal direction, characterized in that it comprises means for receiving the mailpieces ejected via said folding/inserting machine exit and conveying means for transporting, in a direction D of displacement, these ejected mailpieces towards said franking machine entry, said receiving means and said conveying means being considerably inclined towards said franking machine entry from a low supporting plane of said folding/inserting machine.
With this inclined configuration of the path of transport of the transfer module of the invention, the mailpieces may leave the folding/inserting machine completely before being entrained by the conveying means. Any jamming, which is inevitable with a device placed directly at the entrance/exit level of the two machines, i.e. with zero or little inclination, is thus avoided.
According to a preferred embodiment, the conveying means are in addition likewise inclined with respect to said direction of displacement of the mailpieces towards a longitudinal guiding wall.
These conveying means preferably comprise an endless conveyor belt driven by a motor and the inclination with respect to said supporting plane of said conveying means is adjustable via a mechanism incorporating an endless screw able to be actuated by hand by an operator from a control button.
The transfer module of the invention advantageously further comprises adjustable stop means for retaining the ejected mailpieces on said receiving means and processing means connected, on the one hand, to circuits controlling said folding/inserting machine and, on the other hand, to circuits controlling said franking machine in order to control said conveying means as a function of the rate of exit of the mailpieces and that of franking of these mailpieces.